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James Henry Jenkins

July 21, 1927 - June 7, 2017

Oberlin-James “Jimmie” Jenkins, age 89, went home to be with Jesus around midnight, June 7, 2017. Mr. Jimmie was born July 21, 1927, the fourth son of the late Ivor and Emma Jenkins. Some of Mr. Jimmie’s earliest memories of Oberlin were of gravel streets, traveling every Sunday after church to his Grandma Wild’s home in Elton and listening to his Grandfather Wild pray in German. Mr. Jimmie’s dad, Ivor Jenkins, and his Uncle Henry opened a blacksmith shop in Oberlin to serve the local cotton farmers. They fashioned a cotton gin and repaired farm machinery. Mr. Jimmie remembers that it cost ten cents to sharpen a plow’s turning point. What would eventually become Jenkins Hardware, also operated a steam engine to run a sawmill that made and sold planks. Being the youngest, Mr. Jimmie got assigned to help out in the store, mostly doing the bookwork in those early days.

Mr. Jimmie served in the U.S. Navy after high school and was stationed at Naval Air Facility, Adak, Alaska, for part of that time. After completion of his naval service, he then went on to study business at Southwest LA Institute (SLI), now known as UL in Lafayette, and returned home to help run Jenkins Hardware with his brother Norman Jenkins, now deceased. It was at this time that he met Ann Nash of Winnfield, LA; they married March 29, 1956.

Mr. Jimmie was co-owner of Jenkins Hardware. He was an active member of Oberlin Methodist Church and regular attender of Sunday evening services at Oberlin Baptist Church. Mr. Jimmie was also honored to serve as Grand Marshall of the Allen Parish Fair Parade in 2014.

Mr. Jimmie was preceded in death by his parents, Ivor and Emma Jenkins; also his three brothers Raymond, Norman, and William “Dub” Jenkins.

Services to celebrate Jimmie’s life will be held at 2 p.m., Saturday, June 10, 2017 at Oberlin Baptist Church. Rev. Dan Husak will officiate. The family will receive visitors at Allen Parish Funeral Home of Oberlin Friday evening from 6-8 p.m. and will resume at the Oberlin Baptist Church at 12 noon on Saturday until time of service. Burial will follow in China Cemetery under the direction of Ardoin/Allen Parish Funeral Homes of Kinder.

All who had the privilege of spending time with Mr. Jimmie will remember his simple, disciplined and loving lifestyle. They will cherish the memory of his uncompromising devotion to his Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, his family, Jenkins Hardware, and his many friends and relatives. He will be dearly missed.

Words of comfort may be sent to the family at www.allenparishfuneralhome.com, www.ardoinfuneralhome.com, and our Facebook page Ardoin/Allen Parish Funeral Homes.